Strategic Agility and Sustainable Customer Retention of Hospitality Firms in South East, Nigeria

In the dynamic hospitality sector, strategic agility is crucial for gaining a competitive advantage, yet many firms in South East, Nigeria, struggle with the adaptive capabilities necessary to meet evolving customer preferences, leading to declining customer retention rates. This study, therefore, ascertained the relationship between strategic agility—conceptualized through the dimensions of adaptive capability, strategic flexibility, sustainable growth, innovation in service, and technology integration—and competitive advantage in hospitality firms in South East, Nigeria, focusing on key indicators such as customer retention, product branding, continuous improvement, and service quality. Anchored in Porter's Competitive Advantage Theory, the research employed a descriptive survey design to collect primary data through a mixed-mode approach involving printed questionnaires and Google Forms administered to employees. A sample size of 341 was determined from a population of 2,294 employees using the Taro Yamane formula, with 279 valid responses received from 20 purposively selected three-star and above hospitality firms across the five states of the region, yielding an 81.6% response rate. The relationships between the variables were analyzed using the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient at a 0.05 level of significance. The analysis revealed statistically significant positive relationships for all five hypotheses. A strong positive relationship was found between adaptive capability and customer retention (r = 0.769, p < 0.001), and a very strong positive relationship was established between strategic flexibility and product branding (r = 0.802, p < 0.001). Similarly, the relationship between sustainable growth and continuous improvement was found to be very strong and positive (r = 0.816, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the analysis indicated a moderate positive relationship between innovation in service and service quality (r = 0.378, p < 0.001), and a weak but significant positive relationship between technology integration and customer retention (r = 0.296, p < 0.001). The study concluded that strategic agility is vital for achieving competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. Based on the findings, the study recommends that enhancing adaptive capabilities through employee empowerment, adopting flexible branding strategies, integrating sustainability into operational frameworks, fostering a culture of innovation, and prioritizing technology investments that improve customer relationships.